The Gore exception: Rich liberals can avoid high taxes

EDITORIAL

For the wealthy, avoiding high tax rates is unpatriotic, according to the Obama administration.

Defending the Obama plan to raise taxes on the rich, Joe Biden said during the 2008 presidential campaign, "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut."

Campaigning in New Hampshire last year, Biden made the point again, saying, "Wealthy people are just as patriotic as middle-class people, as poor people, and they know they should be doing more."

During the last presidential campaign, Obama called for a "new economic patriotism" that involved raising taxes on the rich.

On Thursday, news broke that Current TV, the left-wing network founded by a business team led by wealthy former Vice President Al Gore, sold itself to Al Jazeera, the Arab-language news network financed by the government of Qatar. Wrote The New York Times, "Mr. Gore and his partners were eager to complete the deal by Dec. 31, lest it be subject to higher tax rates that took effect on Jan. 1...."

We eagerly await the Obama administration's denunciation of Al Gore for being doubly unpatriotic, as he offshored American jobs for a profit, which Obama attacked Mitt Romney for doing, and reportedly timed the sale of his company to avoid the higher tax rates demanded by President Obama. Come on, Mr. Vice President, what say you?